A rookie draft is being considered by the NRL and will be discussed further by a new panel set up to review the salary cap each season.

The draft for players with limited or no NRL experience is one of several key proposals on the table after a wide-ranging review of the cap which has already led to the establishment of an appeals process, changes to the long-serving player allowance and increases in third-party agreements and the second-tier salary cap.

Others include the introduction of a transfer window for signing players from other clubs and a salary cap for coaching staff.

The revelation that the NRL is considering a rookie draft comes amid discontent among a number of clubs over losing juniors or players they had developed to rivals, with frustrated Wests Tigers chief executive Grant Mayer last week threatening to cut spending on junior development.

Mayer told Fairfax Media that St George Illawarrra and Canberra officials felt the same way, while Cronulla chairman Damian Keogh said there was "no incentive or encouragement for clubs to invest heavily in that side of the game because you are not protected at all".

Advertisement

If a draft was in place for this season, Parramatta would have had first pick on the best junior talent followed by St George Illawarra and Wests Tigers as they were the three bottom finishing teams in the NRL last season, while Sydney Roosters would have received the last choice.

A draft would not neccesarily help clubs that produce large numbers of juniors to retain them but they would save money on development and it is expected that the NRL would take over much of the cost and responsibility for doing so.

It would also help address inequities between clubs, with some like the Warriors, Penrith and North Queensland having huge numbers of juniors to select from and others like Melbourne and Sydney Roosters barely able to run a local competition.

You will now receive updates fromLeague HQ Newsletter

League HQ Newsletter

Those who don't have strong juniors are usually forced to pay more to recruit good young talent for their Holden Cup (under 20s), SG Ball (under 18s) and Harold Matthews Cup (under 16s) teams, while clubs with big junior nurseries are widely criticised whenever a top prospect establishes himself in a rival team.

In AFL, the rookie draft is limited to players aged between 18 and 23 years of age. Most come from either underage competitions or the code's equivalent of the NSW and Queensland Cups but delisted players from other clubs can also nominate.

NRL officials declined to discuss how the system they are considering would work until an announcement on salary cap changes next month but chief operating officer Jim Doyle revealed during a recent briefing session that a rookie draft was one of nine areas that were either being looked at or where changes would be implemented for this season.

The nine areas are:

* governance and efficiency;

* capping football department spending;

* a rookie draft system;

* a transfer window;

* transfer fees;

* player loyalty;

* marquee player allowance;

* third party agreements;,

* long-term injuries; and,

* the second-tier cap.

"They are all being looked at and within some of those topics you may find there is two or three things that will be implemented and with others there it might be a case of we aren't going to do that now, but we are going to keep our eye on the competition and see how things progress," Doyle said.

"Maybe, for example, towards the end of the Collective Bargaining Agreement [with the Rugby League Players' Association] that is in place now there may be some things we look to do after that."

Doyle ruled out a rookie draft for next season but 2016 is a possibility as the CBA will come under review at the end of the next season, although it does not expire until 2017.

"That is more for the future," he said of the rookie draft.

Doyle also said that a salary cap review panel would be established to conduct an annual review of the salary cap.

"Every year we will do a review of what is working, what is not working and what can be changed," Doyle said. "It will be looking both short term and long term. That panel will be put in place and they will be constantly looking at what is happening externally, what is happening in our own system and how we can continue to evolve that."